Update: Life and Books (June 2026)

 
 

I’m a few days early, June isn’t quite over yet, but that’s ok. So what did I do this month? …Not much that I can remember. I actually did quite a bit of cleaning, pushed my body more than I should’ve, but sometimes you don’t really have a choice. So I’ve been too exhausted to really watch movies/shows or play games much, and I definitely did not have the energy to make any more art.

I shared a song from Arcane last month, but I’ve still been listening to the soundtrack a lot, so here’s another fantastic song. Something I wouldn’t normally listen to, what with all my headaches, but it’s just so good.

Let’s just get to the books because I do have a lot of those to talk about. Also, if you play games (especially visual novels) and didn’t see my recent post about games with nonbinary characters, please do check that out because there really are some great games on that list!


Blog/Bookish Updates:

Nothing this month.

 

Books I Received for Review:

The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones by Lex CroucherNemesis Mine by Amy ArcherBright Dead Things by Hailey TurnerDevils We Know by L. T. ThompsonThe Disco at the End of the World by Nathan Tavares

June was a great month for me with the Libro.fm ALC program. I have not managed to listen to most of these yet, but I am excited for them!

The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones by Lex Croucher – Dark academia fantasy about former best friends with a nonbinary protag.

Nemesis Mine by Amy Archer – M/M romance between a hero and villain with a fake feud.

Bright Dead Things by Hailey Turner – M/M second chance romance while traveling to a dangerous fae court, and I’ve enjoyed another series by this author and narrator.

Devils We Know by L. T. Thompson – Second-in-series YA historical fantasy about queer teen sailors/pirates.

The Disco at the End of the World by Nathan Tavares (sci-fi in an alternate version of our world, queer counterculture, and a bit of romance.

Midnight Project by MN Arzu

I also got Midnight Project by M.N. Arzu, from the author. A vampire gets help from a hematologist when blood is killing him instead of sustaining him. It sounds like a unique vampire book!

Photo of the hardcover of The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly. The title and author take up the whole cover, capitalized in a clear but stylized text. Lines like wind swirl through and around the text, and partial silhouettes of wolves are coming out of the wind on the sides of the text. The background is black, the text and images white/silver.Same book, but with the camera flash on, the wolves and wind have shards of blue, purple, yellow, and pink in them.Same book, slightly different angle to show the colors changing.Same book, slightly different angle to show the colors changing.Photo of The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly back cover which has the same wind swirl but with big text that reads, 'What would you sacrifice to survive?'Photo of The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly spine which has black background and white text for the title, purple text for the author and publisher.

And I got The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly, from Simon & Schuster. It’s the first in a trilogy, described as “Irish lore-inspired romantasy [that] follows one sister who offers her life in exchange for the other’s.” It also has magic and competition and court intrigue, all of which sounds great! This is also a surprisingly beautiful cover. I mean, it does already look pretty because it’s a nice design, but then you get it in your hands and move it around in the light, and the wolves have this holographic/iridescent thing going on 😍 My pictures don’t do it justice. Also, I know they’re not very aesthetic photos, just cropped close-ups, but I needed you all to see the colors changing. The hardcover itself is black with white text on the spine.

 

Books I Finished:

If you’re considering buying any of these books from Amazon, I’d really appreciate if you’d use my affiliate link!

The Disco at the End of the World by Nathan Tavares

The Disco at the End of the World by Nathan Tavares – I described it above. It wasn’t quite for me, but it had some unique ideas and lots of queer joy without ignoring the difficulties.

 
 
 

Talk to me!

Have you found any good books, games, music, etc. lately?

 
 
 
 
 

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